Benjamin Millar
Trains remain due to return to the Williamstown line by mid-December despite a two-week construction shutdown impacting works on the Ferguson Street level crossing removal.
More than 150,000 worker hours have been completed on the project, including piling work completed last month to create more than 400 deep supports along the edge of the rail trench.
Ferguson Street has also been reinforced with a concrete deck and reopened, ready for soil and rock to be excavated underneath.
Buses will continue to replace trains between Newport and Williamstown until December 10, with trains due to run through the new rail trench and pick up passengers from the new North Williamstown Station from December 11.
To help meet the deadline rock breaking machines are working round the clock to remove the level crossing and build the new station.
Large-size excavators fitted with special chisel-like attachments are breaking up hard basalt rock beneath the surface.
The rock layer beneath Williamstown is part of a geological formation stretching out past Warrnambool, the third largest of its type in the world.
With a downward reach of 13 metres, the machines are working to excavate up to 35,000 tonnes of rock to create a trench up to eight metres deep.
Level Crossing Removal Project program director Tony Hedley said nearby residents are thanked for their patience as the next phase of construction gets underway, with excavation through rock expected to generate significant noise levels.
“Work is powering ahead at Williamstown and it is great to see the rail trench start to take shape as we move into the rock breaking phase and take another step towards removing the level crossing and making the area safer,” he said.
“Resequencing these works has been a huge logistical exercise and I thank the community for bearing with us as we work towards delivering the project to a new schedule.”
